CAR reader David Lindsay got more than he bargained for when out and about in Spain this month.
‘I spotted this new Lancia/Afla/Fiat in Spain being tested,’ he tells us.
Turns out he spied the new Fiat Panda on manoeuvres, being tested ahead of its 2011 Frankfurt motor show debut. The new Panda will go on sale in the UK in early 2012.
More on David Lindsay’s Fiat Panda scoop
‘It had the usual camouflage but it was stuck in traffic, so I got a closer look and it had stickers suggesting it was a prototype for Lancia, Alfa or Fiat,’ says David.
‘My general feeling was towards a Fiat 500 five-door – but in the style of the estate.’
New 2012 Fiat Panda: the background
It never rains, it pours. Only yesterday did we publish our computer renderings of the new 2012 Fiat Panda.
As reported previously, the new Panda is the third-gen of Italy’s favourite city car. It’ll be 10cm longer than today’s car, but rides on a similar wheelbase and recycles the hardware of today’s Panda.
Expect a brace of 0.9-litre TwinAir two-cylinder petrols developing 65bhp or 85bhp, plus a bigger 1.2 petrol or a 1.3 Multijet diesel.
The Panda 4×4 follows later in 2012.
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